One positive I guess i could take out of this, is that people will start to realize that there are many good teams in Europe not named Man United, Chelsea, Barcelona, and RM.

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People will realize the names they hear all the time. Chelsea has a decent following in this country - not as much as Man United but you could argue, among English Speakers, just as much as Real Madrid and Barcelona. That's why I thought England vs Spain would have been the best matchup. And I think Ronaldo has a higher Q rating here than Messi.

One positive I guess i could take out of this, is that people will start to realize that there are many good teams in Europe not named Man United, Chelsea, Barcelona, and RM.

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The players union have submitted a request today to lift the ban on 6 players from both teams who are scheduled to miss the final. I think UEFA needs to amend the situation. The fans want to see the best players during the final. A player should only be banned for a real reckless foul from the final...Not from stupid yellow cards, and RED card for stupid judgement.

The fans and broadcasters want to see the best players during the final. I wouldn't be surprised UEFA makes a ruling in favor of lifting that ban...

The Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich should bring record numbers for F/X (especially with the game going into overtime and penalty kicks). I wouldnt be surprised to see numbers in the 600K+. This doesn't include the replays on FOX Soccer (Add another 100K-200K with the two replays on FOX Soccer)

Fox Soccer and FOX Deportes will probably score 400K-450K and 700k+ respectively for the Barcelona vs. Chelsea match (Some more with the replays)

The players union have submitted a request today to lift the ban on 6 players from both teams who are scheduled to miss the final. I think UEFA needs to amend the situation. The fans want to see the best players during the final. A player should only be banned for a real reckless foul from the final...Not from stupid yellow cards, and RED card for stupid judgement.

The fans and broadcasters want to see the best players during the final. I wouldn't be surprised UEFA makes a ruling in favor of lifting that ban...

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Why would UEFA even consider this? These are the rules. They are also present in the World Cup and the Euros. The teams knew the rules. The players knew the rules. It is what it is. When has this ever happened before?

Why would UEFA even consider this? These are the rules. They are also present in the World Cup and the Euros. The teams knew the rules. The players knew the rules. It is what it is. When has this ever happened before?

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In the World Cup and Euros once you reach the Semifinals your card count gets cleared completely. In the champions league it doesn't.

Some observations...College Students are more interested in EPL and International Football. MLS still has a long way to go. Once MLS succeeds in bringing more college male students, then it will improve the overall TV ratings for MLS.

This shows that MLS ratings are very unpredictable at times...For last 2 weeks, MLS on ESPN and ESPN2 has pulled above average numbers. The Seattle/Union probably had around 120K viewers for the Match-window part.

One more update:Fox Soccer's FA Cup Final Sat (Chelsea-Liverpool) had 396K (One thing for sure, EPL ratings have seen a steady increase on FOX Soccer). This is a pretty good number when you consider the platform is only available to 41 million people.

Final ratings should be about 0.4 for ESPN2 (550K-600k viewers)
ESPNDeportes another 100K
MLS ratings will probably stay around 0.3 (350k-400K viewers)/Add 50K or so from ESPNDeportes
FX probably pulled about 400K-500K
FX Deportes pulled 100K-200K
The combined viewership for the other platforms probably reached 200K-300K

Dramatic soccer win barely moves needle. ESPN2's live Sunday coverage of Manchester City winning the English Premier League (via two goals in time added by the ref to make up for play stoppages) drew a 0.5 overnight. Which pretty much puts it alongside ESPN2's Major League Soccer coverage: An ESPN2 Philadelphia-New York game played later drew a 0.3 overnight.

Still, the tiny Manchester City rating comes with caveats: Coverage began at 9:30 a.m. ET and it probably got somewhat lost amid the nine other simultaneous EPL games that were covered live on Fox platforms.

Well done: Fox platforms carried nine of the 10 simultaneously-played final-day games in the English Premier League on Sunday, although ESPN2 lucked out getting Manchester City dramatically winning the league title with two late goals. The good news: Unlike Fox's sometimes hokey elements in past international soccer coverage, it didn't add gimmicks to attract casual fans and instead created RedZone-live coverage that darted between scores in various games.

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I wonder if an actual Red Zone type show would work or if it would be too labor intensive. Something like Soccer Saturday but with actual highlights. I feel the nature of the sport doesn't lend itself to this, but it may be something the average American sports fan could appreciate.

I wonder if an actual Red Zone type show would work or if it would be too labor intensive. Something like Soccer Saturday but with actual highlights. I feel the nature of the sport doesn't lend itself to this, but it may be something the average American sports fan could appreciate.

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Red Zone like programs for soccer have existed for decades in Germany, Italy and France so it's definitely doable. The main problem probably is that in the US (like in the UK) there's no station that holds rights to all EPL games. Maye AJ can do a LaLiga simulcast.